Ana Maria Machado is the author of more than one hundred books for children, young adults, and adults. She is the recipient of many prestigious literary awards, including the Brazilian Academy of Letters' Machado de Assis Prize (2001); the International Hans Christian Andersen Award for her children's books (2000); and the Casa de las Americas Prize (1980). A longtime member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, Machado has taught at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the Sorbonne, Oxford University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Renata R. M. Wasserman, born and raised in Brazil, is professor emerita of English and comparative literature at Wayne State University and author of Central at the Margin: Five Brazilian Women Writers.